(via Our Rainforest Is Not For Sale)
Dear Global Citizen,
In just one week, a three-judge panel in an Amazonian court will make a decision that could save half-a-million acres of the Waorani people’s rainforest homeland from oil extraction. But the Ecuadorian judicial system is under pressure from the government and the fossil fuel industry to sway the verdict.
The time for action is now! We need to make sure that the judges know the world is watching this emblematic case for indigenous rights, rainforest protection, and climate justice.
There are 73,155 global petition-signers standing with the Waorani people in defense of their rainforest. Over the next week, with your support, we can bring that number to a quarter of a million people and show the court that the world believes fossil fuels should not trump indigenous rights. Will you help us reach this goal by getting five people to sign?
SIGN THE LETTER FROM WAORANI COMMUNITIES TO THE ECUADORIAN GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT THE AMAZON
Upwards of 75% of the crude oil produced in the Ecuadorian Amazon gets shipped to the US for refining and ends up in gas tanks across the country. This is a global battle and we are all implicated. Let’s help the Waorani people defend their rights, keep the oil in the ground, save their rainforest, and protect our planet against climate change.
In the lead up to the court’s decision, we plan on organizing this campaign’s biggest mass mobilization of indigenous peoples from across Ecuador.
We have one week to make sure the Ecuadorian court system knows that the world is paying attention, and that indigenous peoples have the right to protect their land from oil extraction!
For the Amazon,
Mitch Anderson
Founder & Executive Director
Amazon Frontlines
P.S. Check out these recent news stories about the Waorani people’s efforts to protect their rainforest from oil extraction:
In Al Jazeera: Indigenous Waorani sue Ecuadorian Government over land rights
In Salon: Indigenous peoples go to court to save the Amazon from oil company greed
In Reuters: Ecuador’s hunter-gatherers in court over oil drilling in Amazon
10 seconds to simultaneously save a rainforest and defend the rights of indigenous people. Please sign. Fight with those who cannot fight alone
